This would be a dark chapter in Welsh life
ANYONE who has been following the current negotiations between the home rugby unions and a privateequity company, involving the Six Nations’ possible move behind a television paywall, has reason to be worried.
Even the staunchest capitalist has to accept that markets sometimes have limits.
This is usually the case when they run up against public goods.
Rugby in Wales is one such example.
It is not merely a market - something to be viewed as an essentially commercial phenomenon - but also, some might argue primarily, a public good.
And it is one with enormous powers of social and cultural cohesion.
The financial benefits to the Welsh Rugby Union of any rights deal that results in the Six Nations being taken off free-to-air television, real though they may be, would be far outweighed by the broader social and cultural benefits of allowing millions of ordinary people who do not have (and in many cases cannot afford) a Sky subscription to continue to have access to the tournament from their living rooms.
This access has become all the more important in recent years, as the cost of tickets for Six Nations matches has risen out of reach of many ordinary people.
I am fully aware that the WRU and the other home unions could do with more money.
But ripping rugby out of the social fabric by depriving the lion’s share of the population of access to the tournament is surely not the answer.
If such a plan goes ahead, what may be described by some today as “progress” and “inevitable” will be seen by many, many more in years to come as a dark chapter in the history of Welsh rugby, and therefore Welsh life more generally.
Matthew Valencia
Llancarfan Vale of Glamorgan